Career Opportunities with a Psychology Degree

A degree in psychology provides a useful foundation for a wide range of careers and employers and although many Psychology graduates become professional psychologists, others go on work in other fields that aren’t always obviously related to their Psychology degree.

As a Psychology graduate you’ll have both scientific knowledge and knowledge of human behaviour. This knowledge, as well as the skills, qualities, and attributes you’ll gain during your course, will make you highly valuable to employers in a range of industries.

Many employers look at candidates with any degree subject, particularly subjects that give graduates a broad skill set, so don’t just limit yourself to considering the jobs you’ll see listed below.

Here’s more about the career opportunities with a Psychology degree:

What skills will I gain during my Psychology degree?

As a Psychology graduate you’ll gain the specialist skills needed to go on to become a chartered psychologist.

However, if you don’t think that’s the right career choice for you there are plenty of other non-psychology specific skills you’ll have gained that will appeal to all employers.

These include:

Written and verbal communication skills

IT skills

Handling of data/statistics

Analytical research abilities

Problem solving

The ability to work in teams

Your course will have combined both the scientific aspects of psychology and then humanities aspects giving you a whole host of skills you’ll find useful in your future career.

For example, the science based elements of your Psychology course – including the application of a reasoned approach, problem solving and manipulation of data – are all highly useful tools for careers in healthcare, law enforcement, finance, IT and research.

Equally, your knowledge of human behaviour and motivation, ability to critically analyse a problem, formulate a considered response, create an argument and generate new ideas are all useful if you’re considering a career in the creative industries, the legal sector, government administration or education.

Jobs directly related to your Psychology degree

Chartered Psychologist

Remember, you’ll need postgraduate study in order to become a Chartered Psychologist.

This is a highly specialised role that could take you in a number of directions including occupational psychology, educational psychology, sports psychology, and mental health.

Regardless of your specialism you will work with people of all backgrounds, both patients and clients. In your daily role you’ll analyse behaviours, thoughts and emotions in order to better understand and advise on certain actions and/or psychological issues.

Psychotherapist

Psychotherapists work with individuals, couples, families and groups to help them overcome a range of psychological and emotional issues.

This is a very diverse role and you could find yourself using a number of different approaches to help treat your patients. These different approaches include cognitive behavioural methods, psychoanalytic and psychodynamic therapies, as well as art therapy, drama therapy, humanistic and integrative psychotherapy, hypno-psychotherapy and experiential therapy.

Typically the duties of a Psychotherapist include:

Conducting a series of individual sessions with a client - normally lasting between 30 minutes to an hour, one or more times per week

Encouraging the client to talk about and explore their feelings and behaviour

Running group sessions with people undergoing therapy in a clinical setting

Conducting group sessions in a training capacity for other professionals, such as social workers, nurses and teachers

Networking within the health professional community and other potential business areas to maintain continuity of work and client base

Evaluating therapy outcomes and writing reports

Undergoing supervision (in order to raise personal issues and professional concerns arising from work) with another appropriately qualified person, as well as supervising other psychotherapists.

Other common career paths include working in research roles, moving into teaching, and becoming social workers or counsellors.

Jobs not directly related to your Psychology degree

Although the most common career path for a Psychology graduate is to work in the healthcare sector you can find Psychology graduates working, researching, and advising in all industries including, education, relationships, crime and punishment, advertising, management, workplace practice and sports training.

Some less common roles for Psychology graduates where their degree is useful, but not essential, include:

An understanding of human behaviour is particularly useful in roles in marketing and advertising, as well as HR and communications roles. This knowledge, in combination with the data handling ability, also makes you an ideal candidate for a role in business and commerce.